The N.Z. Vintage Radio Project

NOTE: There are two distinct uses of 'Pacific' as a brand.  Originally the brand was owned by the Pacific Radio Company Ltd in Wellington and from around 1940 the brand was taken over by Akrad Radio Ltd in Waihi.  If the dial is a peephole, arc-shaped or round then it is most likely an original Pacific set - otherwise its likely an Akrad Pacific.

Pacific Radio Ltd was formed in 1933 in Wellington at the same time as Courtenay Radio Ltd.  This appears to have been a break-up of the Stewart Hardware Company that had previously been selling Courtenay radios made by Radio Corporation of New Zealand.  The Pacific Radio Company Ltd was owned by Arthur Maurice Anderson, the accountant for Stewart Hardware, a board member for Radio Corp NZ and husband of one of the Stewart family daughters.  Of note, around the same time as this occurred Radio Corp moved into the Stewart Hardware building - a move believed to have been facilitated by Anderson.

Pacific sets were originally built as special runs by Radio Corp (although always very similar to existing Courtenay models), and then as standard RCNZ chassis models with Pacific badges and dials fitted in 1936 and '37.  1937 was the last year of manufacture, after which RCNZ ceased manufacturing all private brand sets (except Courtenay) in order to focus on manufacturing their own newly-minted Columbus brand. 

While JWS notes in one of his books that the owner died, Anderson lived on into the 1970's and simply disbanded the company in 1938 after manufacturing ceased.  The brand disappeared briefly before being picked up by Akrad Radio.

Early Pacific sets were known for their art-deco styling, although later sets became quite run-of-the-mill using standard cabinet designs.

Steve of the New Zealand Vintage Radio Project compiled a short video on the history of Pacific Radio Co. Ltd as part of a restoration series on the model 107.